With a new proposal in, a major question will be whether the debt will be restructured, and if so, in what way. Earlier this week, CBC Radio's The Current looked at Greek debt and the question of moral hazard. LISTEN to the segment on who is to blame for the Greek crisis.

A race to save Greece from bankruptcy and keep it in the eurozone gathered pace this week when Athens formally applied for a three-year loan and European authorities launched an accelerated review of the request. The EU will decide on Sunday whether to extend more help to its fiscally floundering member.

After a night of pro-Euro protests outside the Greek parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will try to sell his reluctant party on a bailout deal that would mean harsh austerity measures in Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will seek backing for a harsh new austerity package from his party Friday to keep his country in the euro — less than a week after urging Greeks to reject milder cuts in a referendum.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is convening his Syriza party lawmakers to discuss the reform proposals his government sent to creditors late Thursday night in an effort to reach a deal on a third bailout.

The meeting comes before a parliamentary session where, in an unusual move, the country's 300 lawmakers will be asked to authorize Tsipras and his negotiators to use the proposals as the basis for negotiations with Greece's international creditors.

Greece has requested a third bailout of 53.5 billion euros and caved in to a large chunk of creditor demands for a new round of austerity measures.

Greece has offered up concessions on increased taxes and reduced pensions in a bid to secure fresh billions from lenders as it tries to regain its financial footing. Here's a look at some of the main players in the debt talks that are expected to unfold from now until the Sunday deadline.

The heads of the key creditor institutions involved in assessing Greece's proposals for a reform-for-cash deal will confer by teleconference at 1100 GMT on Friday, EU sources said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank President MarioDraghi, International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and Eurogroup finance ministers' chairman JeroenDijsselbloem will make a first assessment of the plans sent to Brussels late on Thursday by the Greek government, the sources said.

If the assessment is positive, a euro zone summit on Sunday could recommend starting negotiations with Athens on a new three-year bailout programme and releasing some bridging funds once it enacts key immediate reforms.

The German government isn't giving an immediate verdict on the list of reform measures submitted by Greece, saying that it will wait for the assessment of the country's formal creditors.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said he "cannot yet evaluate these new Greek proposals in terms of substance." He said Berlin will wait for the European Commission, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to deliver their verdict.

Seibert says Merkel will be accompanied to a special European Union summit on Sunday by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. If there is an agreement, the government will have to get a mandate from the German parliament to open full-fledged negotiations with Greece.

A bank employee distributes tags with queue positions to pensioners as they wait outside the main gate of the national bank of Greece to withdraw the maximum amount in central Athens on Friday. (Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press)

The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that Greece urgently needed help to cope with 1,000 migrants arriving each day and called on the European Union to step in before the humanitarian situation deteriorates further.More than 77,000 people have arrived by sea to Greece so far this year, more than 60 per cent of them Syrians, with others fleeing Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia, it said."The volatile economic situation, combined with the increasing numbers of new arrivals, is putting severe strain on small island communities," William Spindler of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told a briefing.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls laid out his hopes for an imminent Greek bailout deal after the country's government sent "solid, serious and complete" reform proposals to creditors.

Valls' optimistic comments echo those made earlier by French President Francois Hollande.

Valls warned of the economic as well as political risks of a Greek exit from the euro.

"We should do everything so that Greece remains in the eurozone," Valls told reporters in remarks broadcast on French television. "No one can pretend to know the consequences, economic, politic, public order... of a Greek exit."

European markets rallied on the improved prospects for a last-ditch deal to keep Greece in the currency area, while Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bond yields fell, reflecting perception of reduced risk.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has expressed cautious optimism that Greece's latest offer could resolve a debt standoff and allow the country to stay in the eurozone. He told a forum in New York on Friday that "It certainly looks like they're getting closer," adding, however, that "they've had trouble getting from close to closed." (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press)

Ambitious Greek renewable power projects aimed at reducing the country's dependence on energy imports from Russia will be on hold for some time as the threat of exit from the euro prompts investors and financiers to put the brakes on initiatives.

A group of dissenters in Greece's governing Syriza party is urging the government to prepare to leave the euro and to reject any deal with creditors that involves more crippling austerity.

The group known as the Left Platform submitted a letter to Syriza lawmakers who met in parliament early Friday. In it, the group said an exit from the euro "under present conditions is a difficult but feasible process that will allow the country to follow a different path."

Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's finance minister until he resigned earlier this week in the wake of the referendum result, says family obligations will keep him away from Friday night's parliament session to debate the government's proposed reforms in return for a third bailout.

The government has asked for parliament's approval to use the Greek proposals sent to creditors Thursday as the basis for negotiations with the creditors due to start Saturday.

Varoufakis tweeted that he would be spending the weekend with his daughter before she returns to Australia, where she lives. He sent parliament a letter saying he was voting in favour of the motion.

A man walks past an anti-austerity banner in front of Greek parliament. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has submitted new proposals to creditors and is already facing some criticism from within Greece over the plan. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

Greek lawmakers have begun debating the government's reform proposals in a late-night parliament session due to end in a vote at 3 a.m.

The government has asked for lawmakers' endorsement to use the proposed measures as a basis for negotiation. If approved by creditors, who are to discuss the measures over the weekend, Greece will get a third bailout of more than 50 billion euros.

The measures include tax hikes and spending cuts very similar to ones Greeks rejected in a referendum last Sunday, but the reforms would bring a far larger aid package over a longer period of time.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos delivered a speech during a parliament meeting in Athens on Friday. Lawmakers have been summoned to emergency sessions in parliament after the prime minister sought authorization to negotiate a new bailout deal with European creditors. (Thanassis Stavrakis/Associated Press)

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he negotiated as hard as he could and admits his government had made mistakes during his barely six-month tenure as he fought to win bailout funds for his debt-ridden country.

Speaking in a late-night parliament session, Tsipras described the last few months as a war in which difficult battles were fought and some were lost. "Now I have the feeling we've reached the demarked line. From here on there is a minefield," he said.

He added that he doesn't have the right to hide from the Greek people that the measures Greece must take are far from his left-wing party's pre-election pledges.

But he insisted the latest proposal contains measures that would help the economy and, if approved by Greece's creditors, would unlock sufficient financing for the country to emerge from its protracted crisis and see its massive debt tackled.